With an Eisner Award for each volume of his three adaptations of the Parker series by Richard Stark (AKA Donald Westlake), Darwyn Cooke aims for another with his graphic novel Slayground.

Parker is put to the test against crooked cops and sleazy gangsters after a heist goes south and he finds himself trapped in an amusement park closed for the winter, and embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse… a game that slowly starts to favour the mouse.

“A boarded up amusement park was an inspired setting for Parker,” said writer/artist Darwyn Cooke, “and Westlake made the most of it; a great story that I’m enjoying the hell out of adapting.”

20 years, 30 issues and a popular animated show on MTV, The Maxx which revolves around a vagrant who becomes the protector of the Jungle Queen in alternate reality is getting re-mastered, re-coloured, new paintings by its creator and a series of hardcover collections.

“I want to thank my pal Ted Adams,” stated Sam Kieth who created The Maxx, “for giving me and some of my books a home at IDW… I hope he doesn’t lose his shirt!” The original artist for Sandman which was co-created with Neil Gaiman will be producing art books called The Worlds of Sam Kieth with the first volume debuting at San Diego Comic-Con International.

An original self-published work by David Sim is getting re-mastered, redrawn and reworked into an 18 issue series where he explores the circumstances of the death of comic-strip artist who died at the wheel of a Corvette appropriately titled The Strange Death of Alex Raymond.

“It’s not much of a secret that we’re big Dave Sim fans at IDW,” said Ted Adams, Publisher and CEO. “He’s done an absolute ton of covers for us lately, each one more dynamic than the last. Add in the other Sim projects we have in the pipeline, such as the Complete Book of Cerebus Covers, the digital/audio version of High Society and The Complete Zootanapuss Artist’s Edition, the time seemed right to launch a full blown creator-owned title and take our relationship to the next level.”

Arriving in Spring 2014 is Little Nemo: Return to Slumberland which will expand upon Little Nemo in Slumberland™ by Winsor McCay with the help of Eisner Award-winning writer/artist Eric Shanower (Age of Bronze).

In search of a new playmate for the princess of Slumberland, King Morpheus enlists the Candy Kid to help bring the latest playmate, our titular Nemo, into the dream realm. There, Nemo embarks on a visceral journey full of adventure and danger.

“I’ve loved Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo in Slumberland ever since I first saw examples of the strip when I was a kid,” said writer Eric Shanower, “McCay’s masterpiece is clearly a hard act to follow, and there’s no way that Gabe and I can duplicate McCay’s personal vision. But we’re doing our best to tap into Slumberland‘s essence while bringing our own strengths to it. I think there’s a good chance admirers of McCay’s original will enjoy our riff on it.”

Judge Dredd is being joined by Rogue Trooper as IDW and Rebellion/2000 AD expand their publishing slate in 2014. The science fiction tale was conceived by Gerry Finley-Day and illustrator Dave Gibbons in 1981 and featured the additional artist talents of Steve Dillon, Colin Wilson, Cam Kennedy, Bret Ewins, and Chris Weston.

A future war has poisoned the entire atmosphere of Nu-Earth, prompting one side to create Genetic Infantrymen: blue-skinned soldiers who can breathe the toxic air, equipped with bio-chips to record their personalities in their final moments for eventual re-corporation. But a traitor sold the G.I.s out, and all but one were slaughtered. Now he stalks Nu-Earth on a mission of revenge, aided by his dead friends now “living” in his gun, helmet and backpack. He is the last G.I.—the Rogue Trooper!

“We’re thrilled with IDW’s plans to bring exciting new talents to another of 2000 AD’s most iconic and popular series,” stated Rebellion Publishing Manager, Ben Smith when discussing the publishing partnership which will also see the original comic strips re-coloured. “Having done such bold and successful work with Judge Dredd, we can’t wait to see how Chris Ryall and his team take on comics’ toughest soldier.”